CHANGE OF MIND
BY: MEAGAN KEITH

Mexican Ecology & Culture 2006

If I could take back what I said before about my first perceptions of Mexico and their culture I would. I have always thought of Mexico and their Mexican culture as poor and that they don’t really have the same expectations as we Americans do. As I was growing up I have always been told or taught to be nice to other nationalities but not to trust them as far as you could throw them. But I have always had in the back of my mind that we are all equal, but while growing up I have always been preached and told that Mexicans are hard workers but that is all they are, that they can’t make it in life unless they have an American boss to help them and pay them. While understanding that I still disagreed. I disagreed with the fact that one person can down another just because they have a different color of skin. While their government has money and has a rich and poor standard there are more lower middle class than above middle class citizens in the Central America section but that they live their life as if there wasn’t anything wrong which without our butting into their life really there is nothing wrong with what they think or live. But I still kept thinking that my family was right. But I soon found out what I have always been told wasn’t the truth.

When visiting and experiencing first hand the Mexican culture and their way of life you feel astonished and shocked. As in America we are use to nice things even if you were the lower middle class you most likely had assistance from some kind of in-benefit organization. On the contrary in Mexico they don’t have the funding or their top priority is not to fund lower class families with such in-benefit programs. Yes, they do have money in their economy to use but it is put into more programs as in military or economic issues. They also have certain standards that they live by, just by paying attention and watching you saw that they did as good for their families as they could possibly do at that time. I actually encountered a family that was very happy, well off, and love every bit of their time together. They didn’t have what I have at home but they have something way different, they have love for each other, a vibrancy about them and they are always SO happy all the time; which where I live that is very rare to find a family that is like that. Down in Mexico they work as hard or even harder for their pay as we do, not because they are trying to prove something, but because it’s their way of life and that is what has been taught to them to do. Most Mexicans don’t think that they live in a under privileged country, they think they live in a great environment and setting, which without our judgment they do. We have set the standard of living so high in America that most countries can’t meet our criteria, but that is our fault for thinking that we are better than them.


I also understand that it isn’t always about pro white and that other nations can overcome and exceed what is been known for them to do; that it isn’t always about “them dirty Mexicans and their dirty ways,” but that they are human and they are as equal in society as we are. I saw first hand that not all of Mexico is the same, while in San Blas on our research trip the Mexican students had the same or even better equipment than we did. They also knew more about what they were doing and what they were going to do on this trip, which actually made me feel kind of dumb just because I wasn’t as prepared as I needed to be. Most of our professors and instructors for each section was mainly from Mexico, I will tell you that these men and women are the smartest people I know. They knew everything about what they were teaching and the reason why I think is that their passion was so strong for their major that who wouldn’t want to know everything.

This trip helped me better understand and learn things that I didn’t even know. I learned that you can do anything you want to and that you can love doing it. Just having the experience and the opportunity to do this is outrageously awesome. I met a lot of wonderful people and a lot of life long friends; I also had the chance to learn in a different environment on someone else’s “turf” which I have never seen or done before. My perceptions of Mexico and the people of that culture were way different than what I brought back with me after the trip. I actually feel kind of stupid and arrogant for thinking the way I did about them and their culture. In an experience like this you put your whole life behind and you have a new fresh start on it, as in not categorizing people for what they have been thought of but as I look at them. Every person is as equal as every other person no matter what someone else wants to tell you. But I want to thank everyone for being such a wonderful host down in Mexico where we camped and thanks to everyone for making us feel right at home, it was home for a week! It was an amazing trip and a non-forgettable one at that. Thanks again for the wonderful hospitality!

Thanks again,
Meagan Keith